To ask for urgent help with adhd mental paralysis?

[Mumwantingtogetitright]

I have come into work today to get some urgent stuff done before the start of the week tomorrow. It is an absolute deadline and there is a lot to do. I have adhd, am totally overwhelmed and stuck. I got here 3 hours ago and have probably done about 10 mins work in total. Just can't get my brain into gear.

What the fuck can I do to unfreeze my brain enough to enable me to get on with it? (The work isn't that difficult but it's dull, and my brain doesn't cope well with boring tasks.)

Please help. The work MUST get done!!

And I know you'll all tell me to get off MN, but how?! I just can't seem to get out of being stuck!

Break it into chunks and make a list of each task
put on background of people working in a library or similar (you tube study with me is good)
set a timer for 30 mins and see how much you can get done.

GO

Do something else that you enjoy to clear that brain fog and then start again. Maybe go get a coffee.

Try for 10 minutes first. Getting started is the hardest bit, I usually find myself I can get on a roll once I've got going.

Definitely break it down like pp said. Reward yourself with a walk to the coffee pot or something each time.

When I get stuck I write myself tiny lists on post-its…literally breaking it down into teeny pieces:

Open X
Go to Y
Sort by Z
Do some work with that data
Have a break!
Repeat

I'd struggle to make the list of what I'm supposed to be doing 🤣

Yep, me too @MountainClimber22! Will try to do the post-it thing and set a timer. Going to try YouTube study with me as well!

Thanks all. Will come back and update when I'm having a break!

Thanks everyone. Just had a fairly focused 20 mins and have made a list of what needs doing.

Going to have a 5 min break then do another 20 mins!

Well done @Mumwantingtogetitright Does coffee help you to focus? My adult DS was recently diagnosed with ADHD and he says coffee seems to help him. I looked it up and there does seem to be som science behind it, something to do with the effect it has on dopamine levels.

Amazing you hadn't thought about any of this yet. Righto...

Don't be nasty marvellous.

I take it you don't have adhd or you'd understand the ops problem.

What do people get from being so nasty? I can’t get my head around it.

good luck OP!

I have this. The only way to break this for me is to cause more stress/ reward in brain.. i set an alarm .. and work for that time. Sometimes i can then re set it and keep going or others i then get a alarm session of down time. For eg if i have a day set aside for housework .. i cant start.. and waste hours whikst paniking !
If i remember , i do the above and it helps. I was like ir with mt degee .. not work till 5 days before exam start then the stress ,.boosted the start i needed.. i think its chemical ( needing dopamine) and so i try to use that knowledge were can . Hope this helps.

Coffee and cake used to do it for me, or coffee and a ciggie prior to quitting.

Hope you're managing okay now 😃

I set 15 minute timers on my phone, before I know it I'm absorbed and I've done 3 x 15 mins in a row with no break

It’s urgent with an absolute deadline and you’ve done ten minutes in three hours.

Out or curiosity, what have you been doing instead? This may help with a solution.

I get like this. It's not healthy, but a lot of coffee.

Thank you for all of the helpful responses. I'm going to ignore the one from the poster who clearly doesn't understand adhd.

Coffee definitely helps but I think I've had my quota today. Cake would be marvellous!!

The timers and the weird "study with me" thing are helping.

Honestly, I don't know altogether. A bit of mumsnet/reading the news/checking emails/sending texts etc. I have a massive problem with phone addiction that I'm trying to address but I find it much harder to resist when I'm stressed and overwhelmed - it's like retreating into some sort of comfort zone, I suppose.

Apart from that, not much to be honest. I actually drove 10 miles to sit in the office today in order to minimise distractions, but I still seem to find them everywhere. Making a drink, going to the loo, going to the kitchen to check that I switched off the coffee maker, going to the loo again, eating, looking out of the window, pushing bits of paper around, making another drink, looking at my to do list, stressing about how much I have to do, looking at my to do list again, clicking in and out of various documents, pushing bits of paper around again... you get the picture.

Honestly, I often wonder how I have managed to get into a senior position and hold down a job. If I could just get on with stuff without all of the unnecessary faffing, I reckon I could run the world!!! I'm just fed up of all the time that I waste on procrastination...it's all time that I'm never going to get back and it's so incredibly stressful. I just don't know how to get my brain in gear sometimes.

I can usually start myself odd I get us and do something active first - fun on the spot as fast as I can, dance around to an upbeat song etc. then I need noise!! Music!! Snacks! Creating an artificial deadline helps as well, racing against a timer; how much can I get done before it goes off?

a repeating 10/15/20 minute alarm to check if I’m still on task (important that there’s no beating myself up if I’m not, just let myself get back on track.)

I usually have to listen to music to get things done. Just have to be careful with the playlist as sometimes it has the opposite effect and I end up getting less done. I've recently read that white or brown noise helps. I'm going to try that next time I get like that.

Sign up for Focus Mate and do an hour's work with an accountability partner (someone else who joins you online as they need to get work done too).

You get 3 free sessions a week so it's free to use.

I've got ADHD and it's been a game changer.

Good luck!

www.focusmate.com/

I take a focus break when I need it and take a brisk 5 minute walk around the building. Once I do the first tiny thing, it gets a bit easier. I absolutely have to break the work down into chunks to prevent myself from getting overwhelmed.

Get up and go for a short walk, don’t think about anything in particular. An idea might pop into your head of what to do next. Pay attention to it. Go back and do that one thing you thought of. This might ‘flow’ into focusing on the rest of the tasks.

Have you heard of ‘the drummer and the great mountain’? Very useful resource for making more long term changes.